The recent post in Collecting Appraisal presumably from Kevin Blume, prompted me to reexamine my belt buckle collection. I bought them years ago at the high of my collecting frenzy but never really studied them. Unfortunately there seems to be a real dearth of information about them online and what information I was able to find is incomplete or contradictory.
The most complete single source of information I could find is an interview with
Bill Hoyer by Paul Stormberg in 2009.
The first buckle had two lizard men on it and a brass finish. It was very popular but the catch for the belt holes was weak and had a tendency to break off. The second buckle featured the Wizard Head logo and was produced by a different manufacturer Bergamont Brass. The RPGA buckles were also produced by Bergamont and came in a variety of finishes. The first finish was a platinum finish with red enamel of which three were produced: 1 for Gary and 1 for each of the Blumes. The second finish was a platinum finish with blue enamel of which 6 were produced: 1 for Bill Hoyer, 1 for Frank Metzner, but Bill didn't know where the other 4 went. The third finish was copper of which 20 were produced: these were intended for RPGA tournament winners but only two were awarded while Bill worked for TSR. The last finish was pewter of which about 200 were produced: these were available for purchase by RPGA members. Only about 60 had been sold by the time Bill left TSR.According to
this post from 2007 on TheCollectorsTrove:
The Lizard Man belt Buckle was advertised in the 1970's Polyhedron Magazines, and only available by mail order.According to
this post from 2007 on TheCollectorsTrove:
Rumour has it, that there were three types of belt buckles: bronze available to employees and the public, pewter for TSR employees only, and gold for company executives.A photo of
Frank Metzner's belt buckle collection shows a variety of the buckles but doesn't include any further information.
This thread concerns a TSR RPGA buckle that was obtained at TSR UK at GamesFair Open Championships sometime 1982 to 1989. It appears to be copper. A follow up post from Frank verifies it as legit.
A black and white photo of the
1982 RPGA catalog lists the Wizard Head and RPGA buckles for $6.00.
This thread concerns a gold(?) enamel Wizard Head from the estate of TSR executive Duke Seifried. Frank replied the enamel buckles were custom made for executives and numbered perhaps 5.
This post from Kevin Blume show pictures of a red enamel wizard head buckle, a red enamel RPGA buckle, and a lizard man buckle. It also references a brass wizard head and two more lizard man buckles.
This thread shows a green enamel RPGA buckle from the estate of Jim Ward.
This thread mentions selling Duke Seifried's blue enamel RPGA buckle and shows a photo of his gold enamel wizards head buckle. Frank mentions his is green. It also includes a VERY impressive photo of Melnibonean's buckle collection: A red enamel bronze wizard head, a red enamel pewter wizard head, a bronze wizard head, a pewter wizard head, a red enamel brass(?) RPGA, and two lizard men buckles.
This threadhere describes a Ravenloft promotional sample. Its inconclusive whether this was ever produced in quantity.
This thread discusses a 1994 Lady of Pain buckle.
This thread has two photos of the Lady of Pain buckles. It also mentions gold plated and raw pewter versions.
My own
humble collection consists of a Lizard Man buckle, two bronze Wizard Head buckles, a bronze RPGA buckle, and a pewter RPGA buckle.
Going by the information linked or mentioned above, it seems the Wizard Head and RPGA buckles were produced with pewter, copper, bronze, brass, platinum, and gold finishes. Some were produced with red, blue, green, and gold enamel.
Can anyone provide any further information? Thanks!
